Land Administration and Property Rights Management in Kaduna State

This study investigates the challenges of land administration and property rights management in Kaduna State, located in Nigeria's North West geopolitical zone. Land tenure insecurity, complex land acquisition bureaucracies, and disputes over customary land rights are significant obstacles to investment and community development in the state. A professional survey design is used, collecting data from 170 land registry officials, lawyers, land users, and traditional rulers across three senatorial districts. Data are analysed using regression analysis and qualitative thematic coding. The Property Rights Theory provides the theoretical framework, arguing that clearly defined, enforceable, and transferable property rights are fundamental prerequisites for economic activity and social order. Findings reveal that multiple competing tenure systems, including statutory, customary, and religious land tenure, create significant legal uncertainty and facilitate dispute proliferation. The Certificate of Occupancy (C of O) issuance process is identified as excessively lengthy, costly, and susceptible to corruption. Land conflicts between farming and herding communities are partly attributed to ambiguous land use boundaries. Recommendations include the digitisation of the land registry, harmonisation of statutory and customary tenure frameworks through inclusive community consultations, and the establishment of a land dispute mediation tribunal to reduce court congestion. The findings are relevant to land reform debates across Northern Nigeria. Keywords: land administration, property rights, Kaduna State, land tenure, land reform.